Be Reasonable: Episode #016 – Vicki Monroe

A show called Cell Block Psychic recently premièred in the US, following self-proclaimed psychic & cold case investigator Vicki Monroe as she meets with notorious murderers and claims to deliver messages from their victims. Hayley and Marsh revisit an interview they conducted with Monroe in 2011.

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Listening to her trying to cold read you both was painful but very insightful too. She was bordering on desperation, you could hear it in her voice, as she hit the stone cold wall of scepticism. Good work people 🙂

She sounds like a very bad, but chatty cold-reader. The way she pretends to be talking to people and when getting misses blurts out lots of names.

She couldn’t give the name of the “ghost” she was talking to, but was able to list a lot of technical names for illnesses the person died of in quick succession during a phase where she was claiming the “ghost” was talking to her. The way she calls out the names is also very telling. “Does a Jenny, or Sarah mean anything to you?” Not “I have you great Uncle Ned here and he tells me that your mum Jane, seems to be doing well”. Which would be the kind of language you expect from family.

I wish you could have called her out on it a bit more, but this show is called be reasonable and is about providing a none argumentative place for people to voice their beliefs.

I was fairly impressed by the patience both of you had in this episode. I often have the desire to slap some of your guests into reality but this time I really don’t think I could have helped myself if I was in the room.

Most cold readers depend on their victims wanting to be helpful, so they rely on the people their reading to offer feedback. You guys didn’t play along and she was very clearly flustered, but she used a lot of humor to attempt to deflect the fact that she was clearly failing miserably. Great job!

Another great interview guys. The reading was cringe worthy and you did well not to help her out. When someone is struggling it is in most social situations the normal response to help. We do it so automatically so called psychics can exploit the trait then go back later to sum up what you told them as if it came from them.

If she had been reading for me, and I was not skeptical about it, she would have been on the money with the first thing she said about a little terrier that had “passed over” being held by a lady. Then she said Annie or Anna. My mum’s Yorkshire terrier was called Anna.

My Grandad also wore aftershave and had a pocket watch – who didn’t back then.

I got to thinking about the pot bellied pig. I wondered if there was a photo of Hayley or one of her friends with the pet pig. I had a quick look via Google but didn’t see anything however does Hayley ha e any fb friends with pig photos? She does have a picture of her with a terrier of some sort dated around 2006. It took me 2 mins to find. Interesting that was her opening gambit.

I knew when this one posted at a little over 59:00 I was in for a treat. The cold reading was physically painful to listen to. Just throwing a bunch of shit, high probability shit anyway, in a room and seeing what stuck seemed to be the strategy she was going for.

I knew when this one posted at a little over 51:00 I was in for a treat. The cold reading was physically painful to listen to. Just throwing a bunch of shit, high probability shit anyway, in a room and seeing what stuck seemed to be the strategy she was going for.

Vicki: Chief I’m getting a name. It’s something like Ann or Annabelle, Anne, Annette or perhaps Andrea or Anthea.
Chief (to officers): You heard the lady I want you to round up every Ann or Annabelle, Anne, Annette or perhaps Andrea or Anthea in DeMoines. Get to it boys.

What fascinates me about these interviews is how many of the guests seem to feel like everybody else who claims to have similar abilities is a fraud, but they are the real deal. Vicki claims to not do cold reading, then proceeds to do a cold reading.
I’m also enamored with Hayley’s and Marsh’s abilities to get the guests to be so open about their claims. Many guests, like Vicki, come off sounding like they really believe that Hayley and Marsh are on their side of the argument. It is a truly interesting study in positive skeptical discourse and I’ve learned a lot from listening to this podcast. So, thank you for producing this excellent series.

I must add that Brendan’s one liner sums my feelings up beautifully. HA! Thanks for the laugh, Brendan!

Oh dear this really atrocious. I felt sick listening to it. Sick as the imaginary pig.

Was it cancer?
No
Oh because it sounds like she died of a sickness

There needs to be an independent psychic accredition body to prevent frauds from fleecing poor people of theor money and emotions. It will be the only accrediting body never to accredit anyone, for obvious reasons.

Does anyone know why there isn’t an independent regulatory body (not self assembled by psychics) to protect people from psychic fraud? Is it worth starting a government petition to kick one off?!

I almost believe I’d do a better job with a knowledge of what names are common in the UK, what causes of death are common and the knowledge that broaches and rings are items of jewelry.

Initially I thought ‘How can anyone fall for this?’ but then I picture myself not trying to resist. The first thing she mentions is a woman terrier – my grandma owned terriers and that immediately comes to mind. Maybe I could have fallen for it when I was younger. I hope she wouldn’t have then told me that my grandma was dead as that would have come across as terrible news!

I also felt a bit pained to hear her frantically trying to guess how someone died, and indicating how unpleasent it was. It seemed somewhat distasteful.